Denis Lawson: 'Dead Head' DVD release and competition

From Film News:

Win 1 of 3 copies of Dead Head on DVD
closing date: 6 May 2013
 
Eureka Entertainment have announced the release of DEAD HEAD, the controversial four-part BBC noir drama written by Howard Brenton, available on DVD from 15 April 2013.

- Classic BBC Noir Drama available for the very first time in the world

- Superb cast of acting talent who have since gone on to become household names i.e. Denis Lawson, Don Henderson, George Baker, Simon Callow & Lindsay Duncan

London based petty crook, Eddie Cass (Denis Lawson) agrees to pick up a package and courier it across the capital. When nobody answers the door at the drop off address Eddie opens the package and finds a woman's severed head in a hatbox. He panics and dumps it in the River Thames. Returning home Cass is kidnapped by the mysterious Eldridge (George Baker) and his heavies who inform Eddie that he has been framed for the murder. The hatbox belonged to his ex-wife and his fingerprints are all over it. Eddie panics and goes off the rails - boozing and sleeping rough. Eventually he ends up at his ex-wife Dana's house, played by Lindsay Duncan. Whilst he sleeps there, his former partner informs on him, and Eddie once again has to go on the run. The next morning the newspaper headlines reveal the discovery of the gruesome hatbox. Eddie's own private atom bomb has gone off...

Written in 50-minute episodes by playwright Howard Brenton and directed by Rob Walker the series has a top-notch cast including Denis Lawson (Bleak House, Holby City, Perfect Sense) as Eddie Cass, Don Henderson , George Baker (The Spy Who Loved Me, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Hopscotch), Simon Callow (Amadeus, Four Weddings and a Funeral) and Lindsay Duncan (Rome, Under the Tuscan Sun)

Never repeated, but never forgotten - this much loved series from the BBC is set to be released in the UK for the first time on any home entertainment format. Available in a 2-disc Special Edition DVD from 15 April 2013.

 

To enter the competition, visit the Film News website here
Source: Film News

Martin Compston: starring role in Great Train Robbery drama

Martin Compston to play great train robber in BBC1 drama

Photograph: Felix Clay

Line of Duty star Martin Compston will play one of the great train robbers in a BBC1 drama marking the 50th anniversary of the Royal Mail heist. Compston will star as getaway driver Roy James alongside Luke Evans (Tamara Drewe, The Three Musketeers) who will play Bruce Reynolds, who died last week. Neil Maskell, who recently appeared in Channel 4's Utopia, will play Ronald "Buster" Edwards.
The 1963 robbery will be told in two 90-minute parts, beginning with the "robber's tale" and the "copper's tale". Also starring in the World Productions drama will be Jack Roth – son of Tim – Del Synnott, Paul Anderson and Jack Gordon. The two-part take on the robbery will also serve to further differentiate it from ITV's Mrs Biggs, which left the platform last year and told the story from the perspective of Biggs' relationship with his then wife, Charmian, played by Sheridan Smith.
Source (including photo): The Guardian

Also reported by
Greenock Telegraph
TV Wise
The Sun
and many others

Emun Elliott: 'The Paradise' interview

The Paradise
Bill Gallagher’s glittering new BBC One drama series...
Emun Elliott plays John Moray

How would you describe Moray?
He’s ambitious and he’s damaged. He thrives off and is driven by the pain of his past. His wife died three years before the story begins and he kind of feeds off that and uses that to drive himself forward.
Moray is business minded, very creative and he’s a people person too. He’s a performer - what you see of him on the shop floor is very different to what you see of him in his office when he’s alone.
He’s a multi-faceted character who, although on the surface might look like this greedy business tycoon and capitalist dictator, that’s not the real man at all. Deeper down lies something much more pained, damaged and vulnerable. And that’s what’s exciting about playing someone like that.

In the first episode we see that The Paradise has had such an effect on the high street – the smaller shops that surrounded the department store are struggling. Do you think he has a conscience about that?
I think he does, I think he’s aware of what he’s doing. He’s not just blindly taking over the street or the city. At the same time he’s all about progress.
That’s one of the key themes of The Paradise and for him everything is about moving forward not dwelling upon the past and he realises that at this time, the late 19th century, the key to success and survival is progression and a thirst for change.
The fact that these smaller shops have fallen by the wayside is just almost a natural selection in this evolution of commerce. He thinks that it’s written in the stars and he is just the catalyst for making it happen. Moray doesn’t really see it as his responsibility, but he is absolutely willing to be part of it.

The Paradise sets are incredible. What was your reaction when you first saw them?
There was a mixture of awe and terror because I’m playing the guy who’s supposed to own and run this place. It comes with massive responsibility.
The art department has done an incredible job in creating this space for us to work in and made it feel very real, so I was blown away and still am actually, every time I walk in.
It’s a joy to work in some of the sets they’ve created, and each one feels really different too. Moray’s office is very minimal, dark and dramatic. The Great Hall carries something much brighter. The Paradise is almost like another character in the story.

When Denise comes into the store asking for a job Moray is keen to employ her. What is it that he sees in Denise?
I think first of all he thinks that she’s a beautiful woman. Moray loves women as well, for many different reasons, knows that he can manipulate them but he also has a passion for the female form.
However, the thing that strikes him most of all is the fact that Denise has a genuine passion for the work and they seem to be on the same wavelength when thinking creatively. She believes in The Paradise. She is always one step ahead of her colleagues and her heart is clearly in it.
They have this mutual thought process and mutual passion for clothes and commerce and he’s not used to seeing that in anyone else but himself. Most of his employees come in just to pay the bills because they get fed and a bed upstairs but Denise is the only one that comes in and really wants to investigate and explore all avenues of it. That’s attractive and she’s good at it. There’s nothing more attractive than someone who’s talented and passionate about what they do.

Do these feelings develop into something more?
Yes, they do. He’s falling in love with her from day one. And it stems from their mutual way of thinking.
Those initial feelings develop and become more complicated as teh story unfolds. First of all, Moray tries not to get into any sort of romantic situation at all. If you’ve ever had your heart broken then you know how it feels, and it’s the only way I can relate to losing the love of your life. If that happens then you’d be very reluctant to throw yourself back into love. So he tries to keep it professional. 

The other important woman in his life is Katherine Glendenning. What’s their relationship like?
Complicated - nothing in the story is black and white. Katherine’s the opposite of Denise, she comes from a very wealthy background, she’s the daughter of Lord Glendenning who runs the city and is one of the most powerful men in town.
In a business sense, financially, it makes sense for a man like Moray to be coupled with someone like Katherine Glendenning. They would look good together and on paper it makes sense. If Moray is married to Katherine he has constant income and constant funds coming in, he gets the status of being married to a beautiful, wealthy heiress. There’s this almost animal attraction between them.
Not in the same way as Moray and Denise – which is psychological, heartfelt, beautiful and dynamic – Moray and Katherine are more aggressive, more manipulative with each other.
It’s a conundrum that Moray doesn’t always handle well.
It’s an impossible situation. One could lead to happiness and the other could lead to financial security and that’s the choice he has to make.

Miss Audrey runs ladieswear the department Denise works in. How does Moray work with her?
Miss Audrey worked at Emmerson’s – the shop was called Emmerson’s before it became The Paradise - and she’s been in the business much longer than Moray has, so Moray holds on to that, he wants to move things forward, he also wants to keep his staff and customers happy.
Miss Audrey cares about what she does and she’s good at it, not to the level that Denise is, she’s experienced whereas Denise is good at it because she has a natural instinct.
Moray respects the fact that she’s been in the same job for so long and has kept things running smoothly since. He often toys with her to get his way. He likes to keep her sweet, because if she’s happy the department will be happy, so it’s all tactical. 

Tell me about Moray’s costumes…
They’re amazing. It certainly helps you get into character, it says a lot about the time – it was so much about how you appeared, and a lot of the time you’d be judged on that alone.
There’s a lot of effort involved – my outfit takes 15 minutes to put on. The girls have it much worse! Luckily I don’t have one of those stiff starched collars that a lot of the guys have so it’s actually really comfortable.
The costume department decided Moray is going to dress more as though he is from the 1880s rather than the 1870s – he is always one step ahead in more ways than one. He often travels to Paris and he goes around Europe and picks things up along the way. The collar Moray wears came a lot later in the period and the way he ties his tie is very different to everyone else, it has individuality about it.

Source: BBC Media Centre

Ewen Bremner: Blackout, EIFF

BBC’s Blackout – quality drama to keep an eye on

What’s this? Quality drama coming out of the UK that doesn’t begin with the words Downton, Doctor or Sherlock? If the cast is any indication, absolutely. Starring Christopher Eccleston (Doctor Who, Lennon Naked, The Shadow Line), Dervla Kirwan (Injustice, The Silence), Ewen Bremner (Page Eight, Perfect Sense) and Andrew Scott (Sherlock, The Hour, Lennon Naked), the 3-part drama Blackout will première on BBC One beginning on 4 July 2012.

The series follows Daniel Demoys, played by Eccleston, a stranger in his own life. Over the years he has gone from being an idealistic young man with a burning desire to make the world a better place, to a disillusioned and corrupt council official. His alcoholism has driven a wedge between him and wife, Alex, played by Dervla Kirwan, and their three children. The fallout from his alcohol fuelled actions prove agonising for all around him.

When Daniel wakes up after another drunken night, he realises that he might be responsible for a murder. A dramatic act of redemption buys him public adoration, so much so that he has become a candidate in the race for Mayor, persuaded by council official Jerry Durrans, and lawyer sister Lucy. He is painfully aware that it could all come crashing down at any moment, especially with Detective Dalien Bevan, played by Andrew Scott, hot on his trail and determined to gain respect in the force.

Source: Tellyspotting 

Edinburgh International Film Festival

Ewen Bremner has been named as one of the jury judges are for the 2012 EIFF
Source: The List

Scottish actors Brian Cox and Kate Dickie  are also expected at the event according to The Scotsman

Clip: BBC Two’s Line of Duty

Line of Duty is a a hard-hitting new thriller series exploring the world of police corruption which starts this month on BBC Two.

The series follows one multi-stranded investigation over five hours and stars Martin Compston, Vicky McClure, Lennie James, Neil Morrissey and Faraz Ayub.

Detective Sergeant Steve Arnott (Compston) is transferred to AC-12, a fictional anti-corruption unit, after a mistaken shooting during a counter-terrorist operation.

Alongside Detective Constable Kate Fleming (McClure), he is assigned to lead an investigation into the alleged corruption by a popular and successful officer, Detective Chief Inspector Tony Gates (James).

While Gates cleverly manipulates his unit’s figures, DS Arnott questions whether Gates’s being made a scapegoat for a culture of institutionalised spin, or is guilty of darker corruption?

Writer/Producer Jed Mercurio says: “Line Of Duty is first and foremost a thriller. But it’s also a revisionist commentary on 21st century policing. I have a lot of respect for our police forces. They are generally honest and effective.

“However, I also think that, as an institution that’s undergone such radical changes in its practices over the last decade, the police shouldn’t be above being examined in a serious, thought-provoking drama.”

Source: SeenIt 

Original BBCPress release 

Crime Time Preview give Line of Duty five stars

 

BBC announce more cast for their ambitious adaptation of an Emile Zola novel

.

The BBC have announced more cast for their adaptaion of Emile Zola's classic novel Au Bonheur Des Dames, now titled The Paradise.

Sarah Lancashire (Five Daughters), David Hayman (Trial and Retribution), Elaine Cassidy (Fingersmith), Matthew McNulty (The Syndicate) and Emun Elliott (Game of Thrones) will join the previously announced Joanna Vanderham (The Runaway) in the 8 part series.

The series will be filmed on location in the North East of England and has been adapted by Bill Gallagher (Larkrise to Candleford). Gallagher had this to say, "I like writing long-run ensemble dramas because I can write for actors. Any writer would relish writing for this wonderful cast."

The Paradise centres around the ambitious Denise Lovett (Vanderham) who arrives in the city to work in her uncle's shop but when he cannot help she lands a job in the glamorous department store The Paradise which provides a backdrop for her rags to riches tale. It is here that Denise meets The Paradise's dashing owner John Moray (Elliot) who inspires in her a passion and creativity she didn't know she had.

Pat Connor of BBC North said, " The Paradise is the biggest BBC drama to be made in the North East. BBC North is proud to support this production which underlines our commitment to making the very best programming here in the North for the entire UK."

Controller of BBC Drama Commissioning, Ben Stephenson described the series as, "a romantic relationship drama set in a bustling Northern department store where Bill Gallagher's well crafted characters will bring an addictive mix of love and gossip to BBC One."

The drama begins filming on location outside Durham in June and will be produced by BBC Drama Productions.

Source: This Is Fake DIY

Line of Duty launched at MIP

Content Television is launching BBC drama Line Of Duty at MIP, according to Deadline London. 

The thriller stars Lennie James (Hung, Colombiana), Martin Compston (Sweet Sixteen), Vicky McClure (This Is England) and Adrian Dunbar (Ashes To Ashes).

Douglas Henshall in new BBC drama

According to BBC media, Douglas Henshall is to join Suranne Jones and an all-star cast in The Secret Of Crickley Hall, a chilling haunted house event drama for BBC One this autumn. Filming starts this month in and around the Manchester area. 

Source: DouglasHenshall.com 

More information at Inside Media Track Televisual

John Hannah and Karen Gillan in Radio Times' "TV to look forward to"

Radio Times presents their guide to some of the best television programmes to look forward to this year:

A Touch of Cloth (Sky 1)

'The motivation behind A Touch of Cloth was simple', writes the show’s creator Charlie Brooker. 'Along with my co-writer, TV Burp’s Dan Maier, I wanted to create the silliest programme we could muster, but disguise it as the most serious. Writing this was a joy: we all sat round a table attacking our favourite clichés and lobbing in as many extra gags as possible.'

The result is a deadpan spoof of detective shows like Messiah and Luther, starring John Hannah as DI Jack Cloth and Suranne Jones as DC Anne Oldman.

Expect lots of moody glances, disturbing flashbacks, gruesome crime scenes, and bits where a maverick cop battles with demons. Inner demons, not actual outer demons, obviously. Inner demons are cheaper to shoot – you don’t need CGI.


We'll Take Manhattan (BBC4)


In her first leading television role without the Doctor by her side, Karen Gillan will be stepping out of the TARDIS and into the shoes of 60s supermodel Jean Shrimpton. We’ll Take Manhattan tells the story behind David Bailey’s photo shoot with Shrimpton for Vogue that changed fashion photography forever.

“I was quite interested in David Bailey’s photographs, and in the 60s in general” says Gillan. “Whenever I’d send pictures to stylists of the sort of things that I liked, she was always in the pictures. So when I saw this script, I thought it was perfect!”

The drama chronicles not only the legendary photo shoot but the love affair between the rebellious but talented Bailey and his young muse. Full of nostalgic 60s fashion and gorgeous young things frolicking around New York, it presents the modelling world as incredibly glamorous and exciting.

Gillan was in fact a model herself while she was trying to make her break into acting, but for her it wasn’t quite the exhilarating experience it was for Shrimpton.

Now that Amy Pond is soon to meet a “heartbreaking” end on Doctor Who, would she ever consider returning to the catwalk? “I don’t think so. It was just a way to get by, to be in London and to go for auditions.”

Read more at Radio Times

First look: Karen Gillan as supermodel Jean Shrimpton

Here's the first shot of Amy crossing the Pond, as Karen Gillan takes time out from the Tardis to take on the role of 60s fashion icon Jean Shrimpton.

Gillan stars alongside Aneurin Barnard, as photographer David Bailey, in BBC4 drama We'll Take Manhattan, charting their "explosive love affair" in New York.

The one-off drama centres on a week-long photoshoot Bailey did with Shrimpton in 1962 for Vogue magazine.

Gillan said both Shrimpton and Bailey approved of the project.

"[Jean] left a lovely message saying she really enjoyed it," said Gillan. "David Bailey loved it, too. And they're really honest people so that means something to me."

The star admitted she had been concerned about playing a real person.

"I guess there is more pressure because part of me thinks I should stay true to what this person actually was," said Gillan. "And they're still alive, which is quite a significant thing as well, because they're going to see how you portray them."

We'll Take Manhattan is expected to screen on BBC4 in January

Source: Radio Times

Douglas Henshall to play Sean Langan in BBC Four single drama Hotel Taliban

Douglas Henshall (South Riding, The Silence) will play award-winning journalist, Sean Langan, who was kidnapped and held hostage by the Taliban in 2008, in BBC Four’s gripping and intense single drama, Hotel Taliban, co-written by Norman Hull and Sean Langan.

Currently in production for transmission in 2012, Hotel Taliban will dramatise the events as told in Sean’s diaries, as well as Sean’s testimony to the film producers in which he described the ordeal he and his interpreter Sami went through during their three-and-a-half months in captivity.

In early 2008, documentary filmmaker Sean Langan was ready for his next assignment – to gain access to the Taliban training camps in the tribal areas of Pakistan, despite being a no-go zone for foreign journalists. After months negotiating access to key Taliban leaders via his fixer, Sami, Sean crossed the border into Pakistan. But things didn’t go to plan. Kidnapped and accused of being a spy, Sean and Sami were held hostage for three-and-a-half months, awaiting their fate – death or release. During his captivity, Sean’s survival instinct found him befriending the family holding him hostage, and from a difficult and dangerous situation, Sean discovered a central common humanity, as well as bizarre moments of cultural misunderstanding.

Richard Klein, Controller, BBC Four, says: "It’s a mad, mad, mad world - that's the sentiment I got when Sean Langan told me of his astonishing three-and-a-half month kidnapping by the Taliban. Not just terrifying, though it truly was, but also absurd, moving and funny: Sean's story is really a story of our times, how a journalist obsessed with getting his story finds himself instead locked in a game of words with captors who have as far removed a view of the Western world as Martians. And yet what Sean discovered was that these people were in many ways just like him. Hotel Taliban tells a gripping, terrifying and thrilling story that has a happy ending, thank goodness.”

Key cast also include: Jimi Mistry (Strike Back, East Is East) as Sami; Ramon Tikaram (EastEnders, This Life) as Mr C; Kate Ashfield (Diary Of Anne Frank, Collision; Line Of Duty) as Anabel Langan; Matthew Marsh (Hidden) as Kane; and Andreas Karras will play Gul Jan.

A Garden Production for BBC Four, Hotel Taliban is co-written by Norman Hull and Sean Langan. The director is Norman Hull. The producer is Flavia Taylor; and the executive producers are Stephen Wright and Jamie Laurenson for the BBC and Magnus Temple for Garden.

Hotel Taliban was commissioned by Richard Klein, Controller, BBC Four and Ben Stephenson, Controller, BBC Drama Commissioning.
Source: BBC
Also reported by The Stage and ATV Today

Scottish actors tipped to star in new BBC Scotland blockbuster

BBC Scotland is to launch a multi-million-pound blockbuster that will chart the human story behind the great days of the Clyde shipyards.

With the working title The Clyde, the costume drama will be given the Upstairs Downstairs treatment by basing the story of Glasgow’s great shipbuilding heritage around two 19th-century families.

One will be the ‘aristocratic’ yard owners and the other the working-class family whose father and sons work in the yard.

The scale of the project is unprecedented in television drama production, and will require European or US co-production funding to cover the massive costs.
A source said: “This will attract a stellar cast of actors. There are roles for some of our finest performers, including Robbie Coltrane, Robert Carlyle and Dougray Scott.”

The project is the brainchild of Sigma Films, a production company based in the old Govan Town Hall, now known as Film City. They are best known for art house pictures such as Young Adam, starring Ewan McGregor and Tilda Swinton, and Red Road, which won the Jury Prize at the 2006 Cannes festival.

The company’s executives have recently returned from the Sundance Film Festival, where their latest film, Perfect Sense, starring Ewan McGregor and Eva Green, had its world premiere.

While the shipbuilding saga has just entered the script stage, BBC Scotland is seeking production partners for the network venture.

Production isn’t expected to begin until 2012, but there is a clear appetite for period costume drama after ITV’s recent success with Downton Abbey and the BBC’s revival of Upstairs Downstairs, which was first a hit for ITV in 1971.

Read more: Express